


Seafoam Moon

by Kkaepsongiya



Series: Seafoam Moon [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullying, Gen, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Injury, Injury Recovery, Major Character Injury, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Near Death, Pain, Serious Injuries, Supernatural Elements, all of nct is like vaguely mentioned, basically a world where humans and mythical creatures exist, characters tagged have lines or something idk, everyone in nct is mythical or whatevah, nohyuck if you reeeeeeally fucking squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-06 00:53:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18840298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kkaepsongiya/pseuds/Kkaepsongiya
Summary: He had seen someone dry out once. In his village, a little boy had gone missing and after two days, he was found out on the beach. He was dead, dried up. He remembers watching with the rest of the village as his mother tried to touch him, only for him to start crumbling away, his body turned to sand.





	Seafoam Moon

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in my google docs for months but fuck it I'm just gonna post it idk might make this into a series idek

Donghyuck loves being a merman.

He loves diving deep into a body of water, feeling he water in his hair, seeing his legs become his beautiful tail. He loves swimming for hours on end, passing school of fish and other underwater creatures. He loves when his friends come out to watch him swim, days at the beach where they take pictures of him—the only merperson in their group—and compliment his scales, beautiful patches of holographic pink and blue that extend past his tail and onto his tanned skin. He thrives off their praise and their shouts of amazement when he does little tricks. He laughs with the younger boys when they join him in the water and splashes the older boys when he’s dared to.

They’re group is a mix of supernatural, from vampires to werewolves to fae and everything in between. It was a miracle they all worked together so well but despite their differences, they were all close as can be—and they were protective of their young merman. Even at this university for mythical creatures, mermen were rare (“why come to the city when you could go somewhere surrounded by water?”) and for that reason, Donghyuck attracted a lot of attention. A lot of the kids at the school had never seen an actual merman before. On one hand, it was kind of cool being so different from everyone else. 

On the other hand, it was hell, drawing the wrong kind of attention. 

While his first year at uni had gone perfectly, sometime during his second semester of sophomore year he had become the target of a group of werewolf boys. While Hyuck usually had no problem with werewolves (hell, some of his friends were werewolves), these boys were the stereotypical werewolves, like the ones showed on tv: loud, dumb, strong, and mean. As a small, weak, pretty, gay boy, even without being a merman Hyuck was the perfect target for bullies. Add being the only merman around on top of that and things were only worse. 

Now, Hyuck is physically weak, he can’t deny that, but he would never describe himself as emotionally weak. Growing up, he had a lot of moments of self doubt and self hatred but he’s proud to say that he’s grown, and he’s become a more confident and proud person. He would say he was no longer ashamed to be himself and his friends could attest to that. So when the bullies call him names, he just shrugs them off. He barely registers the super original insults like _gay boy_ and _princess_ or the uncreative ones like _fish_ _head_ or _seaweed_ _face_. Hyuck thinks they’re obviously not versed in merperson culture because if they were, they would know seaweed was awesome and everyone loved it. So he’s content with ignoring them. 

When they realize they have little effect on him, they break out some harsher names like  _ fag _ . They start taunting him about his friends, asking how it feels to get gangbanged by all his big werewolf friends, how much he loves taking it. They call him a  _ slut _ and a  _ whore _ and while these comments hurt a bit more than the other ones, he still ignores them to the best of his ability. He has nothing to prove to these guys and he’s not going to give them the satisfaction of getting heated and yelling or trying to defend himself. He owes them nothing.

The problems really start halfway through the semester—building up and coming to a head in just 48 short hours. Up until this point, Donghyuck had been easily ignoring his tormentors, phasing them out when they holler at him the few times he walks alone across campus, not even blinking when they surround his desk before their shared lecture begins. He’s managed to even keep this from his friends—not that he’s trying to keep it a secret, but he doesn’t really feel it’s that big of a problem. 

Until he’s at the pool one day. 

As a merman, he’s the perfect lifeguard and so he works at the university pool during the week to make some extra money. He doesn’t mind doing it because, while the water is pungent with chlorine, seeing the water ripple or hearing people splash in it is calming. He especially likes working the closing shift because the manager always lets him swim for a bit before locking up. He never gets in the water when on duty unless absolutely necessary because he knows that if he gets soaked, his legs will shift and they won’t shift back until he’s dry at least 15 minutes—this isn’t so helpful when he’s working so he tries to avoid it.

One day, though, it’s quiet at the pool. It was cold out so even though the indoor pool was heated, swimming was the last thing on people’s minds. For the entirety of his shift so far, he’s only seen two people come in and they’ve long since left so he’s not paying much attention to anything. He guess that it’s his fault then that they’re able to sneak up on him so easily. One second, Donghyuck’s sitting in the low lifeguard chair, messing with his phone. The next, there’s hands grabbing his arms and tugging him up. And then, he’s underwater. His gills tingle a bit from the chlorine but he’s quick to swim to the surface. 

As he hauls himself out of the pool, he catches laughter and the backs of his bullies as they leave him behind. He breathes hard, his heart pounding in his chest. He’s never experienced anything like this, never had anyone touch him like that, never felt this scared. He lays flat on his back, his fin feeling heavy where it’s splayed on the floor. 

By the time the next lifeguard comes to relieve him of his shift, a sweet water nymph, he’s dry, quickly rushing out of the room to change back into his outdoor clothes.

Later that night, when he’s out with the rest of what their group dubbed the “Dreamies”, Jeno asks him if he’s okay. 

“You just seem really out of it.” is what the older boy says. Hyuck only smiles weakly and shakes his head, waving away Jeno’s worry. If anyone else notices the way he’s acting, nobody mentions it. 

The next day, though, is really the turning point though. The weather made a complete 180, going from mid 60s the day before to the high 80s. The sun is bright and high in the sky and Donghyuck curses it as he rushes to class. He had slept through his alarm and was late to class. There was nobody around as he sped-walked to class, sweat lining his forehead. He’s halfway there when he hears a call of “hey, fag!” and suddenly he’s hit with water. In what feels like half a second, he’s flat on the blistering hot ground. The concrete burns his palms and he has some small rocks imbedded in his face from where it hit the floor.

His bullies are taking pictures of him and laughing, the one in the middle holding an empty bucket. They taunt him for a minute before leaving him alone on the floor. He can feel his fin burning, tries shifting his lower half but stops as the heat sticks his scales to the hot ground. The sun beats down on his back and his skin feel so hot. His scales and gills are drying out and he’s panicking. His tail’s gone partially numb from the heat of the concrete pressing against it, burning through his scales and skin. He lays there for a while, disorientated from the pain and from the shock that anyone, even his bullies, would do something like this to him. He could  _ die _ like this, from drying out, from burning up under the hot sun. He tilts his head and sees his phone not far away, swiping for it with a trembling hand.

His hand is shaking as he attempts to put in his password, and maybe he sobs a little when it unlocks. He doesn’t know when he started crying but by the time he’s called someone, his body is wracking. 

“Hey, Hyuck, what’s up? I thought you had class?” It’s Johnny, he’s managed to call Johnny. Donghyuck sobs loudly into the phone at the older boy’s voice, and Johnny stops talking abruptly. “Hyuck? What’s wrong?” It feels like the sun’s gotten even brighter and his throat is tightening up. Over his sobs, he can hear Johnny scrambling. Hyuck is breathing hard into the phone. 

“ _ Please _ ,” he feels faint, “I don’t want to  _ die _ , hyung, I—“ he hears Johnny yelling to someone on the other line, a door slamming, and soon, a car starting. He has enough clarity to give out his location between sobs. He hears Johnny curse and honk his horn. 

“It’s okay, Hyuckie, we’re coming for you, you’ll be okay, baby.” It’s Taeyong on the phone now. The older boy continues talking to him while they drive. Hyuck doesn’t know how much time has passed since he first shifted. His scales are already half melted into the ground and it hurts to move. He can feel his gills are dried out and he can hear the scales on the back of his neck crunch when he moves his head. He’s so scared, he’s going to dry out.

He  _ had _ seen someone dry out once, when he was a kid. In his village, a little boy had gone missing and after two days, he was found out on the beach, away from the tide. He was dead, dried up before he was able to even shift back. He remembers watching with the rest of the village as his mother tried to touch him, only for him to start crumbling away, his body turned to sand. Since that day, Hyuck always made sure that he didn’t dry out but it was easy back then, living right on the beach, surrounded everywhere by water. 

He was in the city now. He knew it was a risk coming to this university. Not many merpeople left their water villages to come to the city where the best there tended to be were little fountains around. Many universities didn’t have proper accommodations for merpeople but, even so, Hyuck knew that this was his dream school and since meeting his friends, he felt he never had to worry. Without even having to ask, his friends had started carrying little things to help him out—towels, umbrellas, water bottles, and once Renjun had even sprayed him in the face with water (in the moment, he joked that it was because Hyuck was being catty so he was going to treat him like a cat. Later that night, though, he admitted that it was because he noticed Hyuck’s gills looked dry because of the heat). His friends were always there for him but he just hoped that this time they would come in time. 

He could hear himself wheezing, could feel his gills fluttering. He’s not really even sure he’s fully conscious by the time anyone comes. It sounds like a lot of people but he can’t really be sure. Something heavy and cold is draped over his head and upper body, the fabric getting pressed against his gills. Someone pours cold water over his tail and he sobs at the refreshing feeling, his hands clenching tightly into fists. Someone tries to shift him but his skin is sticking to the ground and it tugs making him cry out. At his cry, everyone starts moving around him, talking loudly. Every once in a while, someone pours more water on his tail and the towel over him gets changed out. The person rubbing his gills talks to him quietly but he’s still out of it so he barely registers any of the words. 

He passes out before the ambulance arrives to take him to the hospital. 

He wakes up underwater. It takes him a moment to will his eyes open and he immediately check his tail. At the sight, he closes his eyes. His tail, his beautiful tail, is burned, a majority of the surface missing scales and raw. Some areas are even  _ charred _ , the skin blackened. He moves a little and it feels stiff. It  _ hurts _ . His chest has burns on it too and his back feels funny but it all feels like nothing in comparison to his tail. He’s  _ devastated _ . He looks at his tail again, his fingers gripping at his hair. He feels like he’s suffocating. A tapping sound catches his attention and for the first time, he takes in his surroundings.

He’s in a supernatural hospital. He guesses that they were too concerned about his condition to just rehydrate him quickly and let him shift back because instead of being in a hospital bed, he’s in something like a fish tank. It’s not terribly big but it allows him enough room to swim a bit and the cool water feels good against his raw gills and skin. The glass is tapped again and he turns around. His friends are all on the other side of the glass, watching him. Hyuck wonders how they possibly convinced the hospital staff to let them all into the room at once but he guesses that it’s because there’s nobody else in the room but him. It’s Jeno that keeps knocking on the glass for his attention, the older boy looks worried—they  _ all _ do—and he’s staring Donghyuck down. When he realizes he’s caught the boy’s attention, Jeno presses his palm up against the glass and Hyuck’s quick to move closer, ignoring the tightness of his tail, and press his hand against the glass, lining their palms together. He smiles softly at Jeno then looks out at the rest of his friends. He looks back at Jeno.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to tap on a fish tank’s glass?” His voice cracks a little but nobody comments on it; instead, they all crack up, laughing in relief, moving closer. Hyuck can feel that there’s still tenseness in the room, he doesn’t want to talk about what happened and he knows they can sense that because nobody brings it up. They make small talk until a doctor comes in to examine him. The whole group stays, watching the doctor question Hyuck and examine the boy’s body. Donghyuck is uncharacteristically silent the entire time as the doctor explains all of his injuries. Second and third degree burns to his tail and body. Some cuts on his face from hitting the ground. He bites his lip when the doctor explains that his tail and most of his skin would recover with little to no difficulty but that there was some skin on the back of his shoulder that had turned to sand by the time he had arrived at the hospital—this skin would never fully regenerate. He explains that due to the nature of his situation, the police were informed and on standby ready to take a statement. 

The doctor leaves with a heavy “it’s one of the hottest days of the year, any longer out there and more than just your shoulder would be sand... you have your friends to thank for saving your life.” The door closes behind him and leaves silence. Donghyuck is having a hard time processing everything but he reaches his hand back, he wants to touch his shoulder, he wants to know what it feels like, how bad it is. Before he touches, someone taps on the glass to stop gim. He meets Mark’s eyes and the boy shakes his head, a sad look on his face. 

Hyuck wonders if they can tell that he’s crying.

He comes up to the glass again, pressing his hands against it. He leans his head against the glass and takes a shuddering breath.

“Thank you,” his voice cracks but he keeps going, “thank you all for saving my life.” He looks up at all of them and if they didn’t know he was crying before, they definitely did now. Johnny pushes closer to the glass to speak.

“You don’t have to thank us, Hyuck. We’ll  _ always _ be here for you, no matter where we are. We’re so glad you’re okay, I just…I wish I could’ve been there sooner. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there sooner.” Johnny wipes at his face before meeting Hyuck’s eyes again. “We’ll always be here, never forget that.” And he has this look in his eye that makes Donghyuck nod, his lip trembling.

And they stay there with him. They stay when the cops come to talk about pressing charges (Hyuck’s mind spins when they mention  _ attempted murder _ , he’s still trying to process all of this, he almost  _ died _ , he would’ve if nobody had come for him). They stay until the nurses kick them out (“we  _ know _ visiting hours have passed but can’t we please just stay here with him?” “sorry, but we  _ really _ can’t allow that”). They come back every day for the week that Donghyuck has to stay in the hospital. They come back when it’s time for Donghyuck to try shifting back for the first time, Jeno and Jaemin hold him when he cries, not minding that their clothes are getting soaked. They all encourage him until he’s able to change back, hugging him as he sobs. Johnny carries him to the car to take him home, everyone squeezing into his and Renjun’s cramped suite. At night, Taeyong and Doyoung help him apply salve to his burns and the missing patch on his shoulder before dressing him in pajamas. Together, they all curl around him, keeping him in a protective circle while they sleep.

With them by his side, Donghyuck begins to heal.


End file.
